Physics Stop

Over the last week or so I have, amongst other things, been doing some preparation for two summer scholarship students that will be working with me from December to February. The summer scholarships are a great opportunity for undergraduate students to experience what research is like. The University of Waikato, like several other universities, offers this chance to several students … Read More

The amazing people at the Science Media Centre in Wellington have put together www.sciblogs.co.nz , all your favourite NZ science blogs in one easy to access site. Physicsstop is there, along with a host of others. The only downside is that with such a great collection of items to read, when am I going to find time to … Read More

The speed of sound in air is about 330 metres per second (which means it takes three seconds to go one kilometre). So count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder, divide by three, and you have approximately your range from the lightning in kilometres. (Divide by five for miles). So, the lightning that struck about 4pm yesterday, which … Read More

So PhysicsWorld has done a nice article on some of the 'engineering' solutions that might be available for tackling global warming.Generally they are pretty ambitious global-scale plans to turn down the thermostat a bit, given the premise that either carbon dioxide emissions will not fall sufficiently or that, even if they did, the earth would still be too hot and something else … Read More

I've been reading in PhysicsWorld about some grand ideas for controlling the earth's climate by engineering on a global scale. Some sound pretty fanciful, though some might be just plausible. But before I get there (which will probably be another entry) I think it's worthwhile reminding you what the greenhouse effect actually is. As in, why is it a … Read More

Eco-systems are of course very complex things - the success of one species is linked to the success of another, which is linked to another, and all of which are linked to outside factors such as climate etc etc. Now there is direct evidence of another degree of complexity in the ocean eco-system, namely that fish (and other swimmy things) … Read More

I love the headline at the end of last week 'Wellington quake risk halves'. As if you can wake up one morning and find that the chances of an earthquake happening today are suddenly half of what they were yesterday just because someone says so. What next - someone decreeing that summer will last 12 months of a … Read More

Have you ever had one of those days when you have worked flat out all day and seem to have accomplished nothing?I think that's today. My desk looks like a tornado has been through the office. Now, I wonder, statsitically speaking, how many tornados I'd need to come through before one picked up all the loose bits of paper and … Read More

I've just been putting together a presentation for final year school children on the NZ scholarship physics exam. NZ Scholarship is awarded to the top 3% or so of students in a particular subject in a particular year, and there is some big money up for grabs.But the exam questions for scholarship are hard. Really. I find them hard (remember I lecture … Read More

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